Button-placing finger-guide for shoe-button-fastening machines.



F. G. WALTZ.

BUTTON PLAOING FINGER GUIDE FOR SHOE BUTTON FASTENING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JAN. l4. ISIS.

1,206,957, Patented Dec. 5,1916.

sra'rns PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK G. WALTZ, or 'ronnno, onro, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ronnno BUTTON MACHINE COMPANY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A conPoRArIoN-oF onro.

BUTTON-PLACING FINGER-GUIDE FOR SHOE-BUTTON-FASTENING- MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK G. WAL'rz, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Button-Placing Finger-Guide for Shoe-Button-Fastening- Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to shoe button fastening machines, and particularly to means for guiding the movements of the button placing finger thereof. In the use of machines of this character considerable difficulty has been experienced due to lateral play of the button placing finger permitting its free end to slip laterally from engagement with some buttons, if undersized or of irregular form, thus preventing a regular successive feeding of the buttons to the stapling parts.

The object of my invention is the provision of simple and efficient means for guiding the reciprocatory or button placing movements of placing fingers of machines of the class described, whereby to obviate the objections above noted and to insure a more perfect and satisfactory working of the button placing means than has heretofore been obtained.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, and while, in its broader aspect, it is capable of embodiment in numerous forms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of the portion of a shoe button fastening machine embodying the invention, with the button placing finger in different positions of-its movement, and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of Fig. 1, with parts removed.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the frame of a shoe button fastening machine, and 2 the button delivery tube or chute thereof.

3 designates a rocker-arm which is pivoted to and rises above the frame 1 at one side thereof for forward and backward rock- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Application filed January 14, 1916. Serial No. 72,060.

frame 1.

The button placing finger 5 of the machine 1s mounted loosely on the outer end of the shaft 4 in spaced relation to the rockerarm and projects forward and downward fromthe shaft in position for its lower or free end to engage a button 6 in the lower end of the tube 2 and move it forward therefrom to staple receiving and setting positions when the arm 3 has forward rocking movements. The delivery end of the tube 2 is transversely offset toward the center of the frame 1 from the vertical plane of the inner end of the placing finger 5, and it is therefore necessary to offset the outer end portion of the finger in the same direction from its inner end, as shown at 5. It is thus evident that the free end of the placing finger 5 is transversely ofiset both from its inner end and from the rocker arm 3, thereby rendering it extremely diflicult, if not impossible, to prevent lateral movements of the free end of the placing finger which will permit it to slip from engagement with the top of a button 6 if undersized or not of proper shape on its top surface.

A coiled expansion spring 7 is mounted on the stub-shaft 4 between the arm 3 and placing finger 5 and has its outward ends thrust thereagainst to retain them spaced and take up looseness therebetween. One

end of the spring 7 is anchored to the arm 3 and its other end is extended transversely from the shaft and fixed to a tail-piece 8 on the finger 5, and serves to yieldingly retain the free end of the finger in its lowered position.

The forward and backward movements of the placing finger 5 are guided by a guide finger 9, which is fixed to the frame top at one side of the forward end portion of the button delivery tube 2 and extends upward and forward on an incline therefrom. The upper or free end of the finger 9 is doubled over in inverted U-shape to form spaced guiding legs between which the forward end portion of the placing finger 5 is disposed for sliding reciprocatory movements relative thereto. The guide finger 9 coacts with both sides of the finger 5 to prevent lateral movements thereof and to retain the free end of the finger in engagement with the top of a button 6 during a forward button placing movement of the finger. The guide 'ger is at the limit of its rearward stroke, as

shown in Fig. 2, the free end of the finger when in such position swinging in an are which is disposed immediately atthe rear of the upper looped end of the guide finger.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,- I

In a machine of the vclass described, a frame, a rocker-armVca-rried by said frame and having a shaft projecting transversely from its free end, a finger carried by said shaft in transversely spaced relation to the rocker arm and for rocking movements rela- "tive thereto, the free end portion or said finger being transversely offset from its in- I ner'end portion, and a guide finger extend- @opies of this patent may be obtained for fiye cents addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

s im 

